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Today, I interviewed Mark Metry, who is a young entrepreneur pursuing big dreams. Many of the other Founders I’ve interviewed should adopt his ‘limits don’t exist’ mindset. It reminds me of Elon Musk.

Plus, his startup is in the virtual reality space. Exciting stuff!

Q: Tell us about you and your startup, and where the inspiration came from.

I am the founder of VU Dream. My company has high hopes of becoming a global Virtual Reality Educator & Distributor that will be the stepping stone to the VR future. The inspiration for this came from a research paper I was writing for school about Virtual Reality. I discovered all of the amazing uses it has for human benefit and the potential positivity it has for this world.

I had to write a research paper for one of my classes at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts. I chose Virtual Reality and discovered so many amazing uses and purposes and the way it could benefit people’s lives around the world. From education to healthcare, VR will be a huge part in each of our live’s in the future. I decided to not take this opportunity for granted and take the chance to try and add some kind of value to the world.

Today, I am announcing my first and official Technology based startup; VU Dream will launch on December 16, 2016. VU Dream strives to inform about the potential of Virtual Reality and provide VR technology at an affordable rate for the entire world. VU Dream will carry a catalog from over a hundred manufacturers.

I am personally most excited for this. VU Dream will open an Education Program within one week of launch that will introduce a new approach to redefining learning in schools while making it affordable for students & schools.

Q: As founder what are some things that are important to you?

As the founder of VU Dream I will lead the company to success. My job will be to make it a people first company. We will operate with a strong sense of morals and ethics in every aspect of our business. Our goal is to make this world a better place one headset at a time.

On December 16th, across 18 different universities across the country we will be running a promotion giveaway for 5 Virtual Reality Headsets. If you go to college somewhere in the world or live in a big city contact us on our website to volunteer.

Q: What is one thing you’d tell to other aspiring student entrepreneurs?

I’m humbled to be labeled in that category. I would tell aspiring student entrepreneurs to start living in the legitimate world and take your personal experience into account. We are taught a perception of the world that is trying to make you less of what you are and what you can do. Have faith in yourself and this world, the only limitations that exist are the ones you make yourself.

Q: How do you balance a startup with your personal life?

I’ve yet to find that out. So far, just working on the startup alone it has been extremely time consuming but still very fun and exciting. Every single day after class I would find some random cafe in the city and work for hours and hours on end.

Q: You play an integral role in your startup. Can you please tell us more about what the startup does? How does it work? Can anyone join?

The startup; VU Dream does 2 things. Educate people and provide VR Headsets for people around the world. We work with manufacturers & developers directly and get their products for a low cost. The more minds the better. If you are looking for a job you can apply on our website.

Q: What is the most challenging part about what you do? How do you overcome that challenge?

Since the startup hasn’t launched yet my main difficulty was actually getting out of my head and entering the real world. We are told so many things throughout our lives that make us perceive limitations in every single thing that we do.

Once I understood that limits didn’t exist it was very easy to make and build everything required to get this company going.

What caught our eye: After earning his BFA in musical theater from Emerson College in 2010, he’s been a regular presence on the Boston stage in recent years with prominent roles in “Big Fish” at SpeakEasy Stage Company, plus “Into the Woods,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” and currently “Sondheim on Sondheim,” all at Lyric Stage Company.

Lightbulb moment: Acting “was something I always felt I was better at than anything else, and I enjoyed doing it more than anything else. I figured I could give it a shot and see what happened.”

Biggest thrill: “Being in performances and bouncing that energy back and forth between the performer and the audience is amazing, but I love rehearsal. You’re all trying to find this story together and figure out the best way to tell it.”

Biggest surprise: “Honestly, it’s always still a little surprising when I get cast in something or when I get a good review. It’s a business where you need to have a certain amount of confidence in your own talents or otherwise you wouldn’t stick it out, but at the same time it’s always a little surprising, a little humbling.”

Inspired by: “Growing up, I was really inspired by the voice acting on ‘The Simpsons,’ especially Hank Azaria. I was amazed that one person could do all these things with his voice. That really got me thinking about the different dialects and accent work that I could do, and I started playing around with accents and dialects in middle school. These are things that have impacted what I do onstage now.”

Aspires to: “I don’t want to be famous. But I would love to be a regular, working actor. Years down the line I’m also thinking of going into education.”

For good luck: “I have a big pile of little mementos, tiny little props that were going to be thrown away that I held onto that remind me of certain shows.”

What people should know: “I am half-Asian — my dad’s Thai. People might look at me and say ‘He’s part Asian; I wonder how that’s affected his life?’ But culturally, no matter what I’m just a kid from the sticks of Massachusetts who grew up in the woods catching nightcrawlers with his best friend and trying to sell them on the street. I think everybody has their own individual culture and the petri dish that they grow up in. No matter what, I’ll always be this little hillbilly from the sticks.”

Coming soon: Simahk performs in “Sondheim on Sondheim” at Lyric Stage through Feb. 21, after which he’ll be traveling to Chicago in the spring for a role in a high-profile revival of a beloved musical (until the contract is signed, that’s as much as he can disclose).

Looking for network weaknesses

Credit: Chitose SuzukiLAUNCHING A FAKE ATTACK: Jimmy Astle, right and front right below, director of range operations for SimSpace, poses with his development team members at the company’s Boston offices.

A group of hackers this week will try to invade networks run by city and state employees, attempting to steal data and wreak havoc on local utilities.

Luckily, it’s a fake Internet, and the hackers are employees of a company that runs cyberattack training simulations.

“We’ve built a city of Boston network, not nearly as high of scale, but it’s good to get the point across,” said Jimmy Astle, director of range operations at SimSpace. “We have a fake copy of the Internet, there’s 10,000-plus websites in there. It looks and feels just like a real network would.”

Dozens of cybersecurity experts — including from the city and state — will go toe to toe and keyboard to keyboard on Friday with SimSpace’s hackers.

“Real attacks will be coming in, spearfish attacks, denial of service, we’ll be extracting data,” Astle said. “We’re going to use attacks you’re going to see from adversaries today.”

The simulation even includes fake news videos as the public learns more and more about the fake breaches.

Still, the exercise is about more than computer war games, and will focus on policies and strategy as much as actual network protection techniques. Working together will also give agencies crucial practice for a real cyberattack, Astle said.

“It’s an opportunity for some of my team members to have some hands-on practice working with other entities to defend the network,” said Greg McCarthy, chief information security officer for Boston. “To be there face-to-face and go through some real life scenarios is always an interesting learning experience.”

Boston has budgeted millions toward cybersecurity this year, including for the development of a next-generation firewall.

Based in Boston, SimSpace has done about a dozen simulations since launching in February.

The company is running the simulation this week free of charge. Eventually SimSpace will sell security products, but those are still in development.

The exercise comes in the wake of multiple breaches at retailers and the Office of Personnel Management hack earlier this year. The government has said personal information — including fingerprints and Social Security numbers — of millions of people was taken. Recently, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, which does classified work for the U.S. government along with research, was hacked.

“Obviously, cybersecurity is high up on everybody’s radar right now,” said Hans Olson, cybersecurity and antiterrorism adviser for the state Office of Public Safety. “We deal on a daily basis with different cyber security incidents that are taking place.”

FITCHBURG -- Although Fitchburg State University senior Eric Ouellette got off to a strong start to his career, nobody could have imagined how good he would become by the end of it.

Ouellette, an Oakmont Regional alum and fifth-year senior on the cross country team, proved that he was one of the top cross country runners in the country this year, falling just shy of qualifying for the National Championship. With his collegiate running career coming to a close this fall, he leaves behind a legacy of hard work and a path for teammates and future Falcons to follow.

"Ouellette is one of the those kids who came in at one level, and left way, way above that level," Fitchburg State University head coach Jim Jellison said. "He's a great leader and is the type of kid you want to have all the time. He came in with high expectations, but I don't think we ever knew how good he'd turn out to be."

Ouellette entered the Division III New England Championship on Nov. 14 hungry to qualify for the National Championships. Only the top seven runners not part of qualifying teams make it, meaning he would have to get 22nd place. Despite being just 25 seconds off of a qualifying time, Ouellette finished 44th (25:48).

"I gave it my all at the national qualifier," Ouellette said. "I was obviously disappointed that I didn't qualify for nationals, because that was my main goal since about sophomore year.

I worked as hard as I possibly could all season and give it my all that race, so there's nothing I could really do beyond that."

The Falcon senior exerted all of his effort just two weeks prior, winning a MASCAC title with the team. Ouellette took second in the meet (26:38), while his four other teammates all finished in the top 10, giving the Falcons a nearly perfect 24-point score and a resounding victory.

Ouellette garnered ECAC Runner of the Week honors twice and MASCAC Runner of the Week honors four times. He was the top Falcon in every race he participated in this year.

"I worked as hard as I could to be the best runner on the team, for my team," Ouellette said. "This year was great to win MASCACs."

Although Ouellette was good from the beginning, there is a big difference between being good and being elite. He finished his career running the 5K in the high-14-to-low-15-minute range, and ran low 25s for five miles, dropping three minutes from his previous average. He was the fourth best runner on the team as a freshman, emerging in the lead role as a junior.

"Freshman year he was good, not great and sophomore year he was better," Jellison said. "His third and fourth year running for us he was just top notch. This year was even better. He's made big and steady improvements each year."

The former Spartan took his senior cross country season off, using it as an opportunity to train. He had one additional semester needed to graduate and decided to return for his final year of eligibility in his fifth year at the school.

"He was a year stronger," Jellison said. "Our team was stronger and he made our team better because of his work ethic, which helped the other guys."

Ouellette didn't have to look far for training partners and role models. Assistant Coach Chris Kibler was a senior on the cross country team when Ouellette was a freshman. His work ethic rubbed off on the young runner, and then as a coach he ran workouts with Ouellette pushing him to new heights.

"Coach Kibler really helped me a lot, especially with workouts," Ouellette said. "He would actually do workouts with me, and just having someone to push you and have someone you want to be as good as really helped me."

Jellison characterizes Ouellette as a leader that primarily leads by example, but he shifted from an extremely shy person to more outgoing and friendly as he progressed up the ladder.

"He's also a leader because he does so well in school," Jellison said. "His teammates understand that this is what it takes to be a good runner, to be a good student too. He never missed practice and also worked while he was in school, and he worked hard. He showed the other guys on the team what it takes, and showed how good they could be of they have the same mental attitude."

Ouellette, a biology major, will be working for a biotech company in Gardner after he graduates from school on Dec. 18.

Oakmont Regional High School is pleased to announce the formation of the Oakmont Outstanding Alumni Award. The purpose of the award is to recognize the contributions and achievements of graduates of Oakmont Regional High School.

The Selection Criteria is as follows:

1. The nominee received a diploma from Oakmont Regional High School.

2. The nominee graduated from Oakmont a minimum of 10 years prior to nomination.

3. The nominee has demonstrated outstanding performance or accomplishment in

4. The nominee has documented an outstanding level of service to his/her profession

5. The nominee has demonstrated outstanding performance, character and leadership

6. The nominee has consistently demonstrated the highest moral and ethical

their chosen career or field of endeavor or the community at large as recognized by their peers standards. Nomination Forms should be sent to Oakmont Regional High School c/o the Principal’s Office. Nominations will be open to all, including self-nomination, and will be screened by the Oakmont Outstanding Alumni Selection Committee composed of three past or present Oakmont administrators, three past or present Oakmont staff members and three Oakmont alumni. Awards will be presented in Oakmont Alumni Auditorium at an Awards Night and an individual plaque for each recipient will also be displayed in the Main Lobby of Oakmont Regional High School.

Nomination forms are available online at awrsd.org or at the Main Office at Oakmont RegionalHigh School 9 Oakmont Dr. Ashburnham, Ma 01430